Should SEM replace SEO?

webmaster · 02-06-2006, 10:16 PM

SEO seems to be a dirty word now, is SEM a safer path?

haga · 02-06-2006, 10:26 PM

I think SEM is more professional than SEO.

**John Scott** · 02-06-2006, 10:29 PM

Both marketing and SEO have a place. I don't think we should have to choose one or the other.

haga · 02-06-2006, 10:33 PM

in my opinion, SEM contain: seo, ppc... so we should choose SEM to replace SEO

**Rankenstein** · 02-07-2006, 04:44 AM

Haga, you are right in one way, maybe wrong in another. Doing PPC for a big company can be a full time job.
A company can be superb at the PPC side of things and not know much/not be up to speed on SEO. Likewise, if you hired me to do your PPC you'd have to be mad - I have very little interest in it.
What I'm trying to say is if you hire an SEM guy/company, you may be getting a guy/company that is only, say, 60-70% useful in both areas. Whereas you ought to get 2 guys who are both at 90%. If that makes sense.

webmaster · 02-07-2006, 05:03 AM

I believe SEM is the better because "marketing" is a word the covers all, optimization is short and should be a simple (even free) task as part of an SEM package. So if you are a SEM expert, you are an all around guy and of more value then an SEO.

**John Scott** · 02-07-2006, 05:07 AM

But, Aaron, most SEO's don't do marketing. They just do SE rankings.

Bjorn Solstad · 02-07-2006, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnScott

But, Aaron, most SEO's don't do marketing. They just do SE rankings.

Very true John. They actually miss out on a lot of areas, and are staring blindly on their rankings. In my world that translates to "being lazy".

**John Scott** · 02-07-2006, 05:18 AM

My take on it is this - if somebody does SEO, fine let them do SEO. But don't call it "marketing" because it isn't. In my mind, rankings have less to do with marketing than conversions do. SEO's are fine - they fulfill a need. But, IMO, they should be working with the marketing dept in a harmonious relationship.

webmaster · 02-07-2006, 05:25 AM

I was just thinking about this when registering a new domain last night to service small mom and pops (i do not have enough time to be fulltime) and used an sem in the url rather than an seo because if covers more.

**Rankenstein** · 02-07-2006, 05:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by basicus

Very true John. They actually miss out on a lot of areas, and are staring blindly on their rankings. In my world that translates to "being lazy".

Or, like I said, doing PPC for a big company can be a full time job for one person and if you try and do two jobs you aren't being as effective as you can be at the PPC. In my world that translates to "Jack of all trades, master of none".

webmaster · 02-07-2006, 05:39 AM

do you guys pass on work to other sem's when you just can't find the time or the income is not at your preferred level?

Ferre · 02-07-2006, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by basicus

Very true John. They actually miss out on a lot of areas, and are staring blindly on their rankings. In my world that translates to "being lazy".

In my world we translate that as highly unprofessional.

Julie · 02-07-2006, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnScott

But, Aaron, most SEO's don't do marketing. They just do SE rankings.

Then its time for them to diversify!

**Rankenstein** · 02-07-2006, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jkent

Then its time for them to diversify!

No! Never! A specialist is someone who knows more and more about less and less!

**John Scott** · 02-07-2006, 08:17 AM

LOL @ Rankenstein

tonyhill · 02-07-2006, 09:01 AM

It can go both ways, I like investopedia's definition from answers.com

"Many people believe that marketing is just about advertising or sales. However, marketing is everything a company does to acquire customers and maintain a relationship with them. Even the small tasks like writing thank-you letters, playing golf with a prospective client, returning calls promptly and meeting with a past client for coffee can be thought of as marketing. The ultimate goal of marketing is to match a company's products and services to the people who need and want them, thereby ensure profitability"

I think getting a website ranked on the search engine or basically getting their website noticed and in front of the eyes of potential customers is part of a marketing campaign. So SEO could be a sub-department of SEM.

But as John said, they both have their place.

In our world of SEO/SEM they appear to be two seperate things..

JoJo · 02-07-2006, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonyhill

In our world of SEO/SEM they appear to be two seperate things..

this has been true however the two appear to be merging more.....
if dealing with mom & pop sites/Co's there is no apparent marketing dept or whatever to work with, they often have a restrictive budget and if an 'seo' can make a difference for them then this has to be

both for the seo & mom/pop.

randfish · 02-07-2006, 04:40 PM

Quote:

do you guys pass on work to other sem's when you just can't find the time or the income is not at your preferred level?

I do it all the time. I think that since the new year, I've probably referred out almost 100 clients ranging in size from very small to one or two very, very large clients.

The SEO/M world is full of referrals because the demand is typically much greater than the supply (assuming you have the marketing presence to be in front of the right eyeballs in the first place). I love referring folks because I know that they'll be treated well, taken care of and that the goodwill created will mean more business down the line.

webmaster · 02-07-2006, 07:44 PM

Wow rand, you can't be that busy, you visit pretty much every forum that exists eh?

I have already thrown out the idea of being an SEM, now I am an RT, see how quickly it changes?

It appears that Google throws most stuff from blogs in the trash for a year or more, during this time you establish your site flavor. If you start off writing highly focused articles mirroring phrases you found in Overture you may as well toss them out.

Aaron Pratt "Robot Trainer"